Interchangeable attachment



B1 DARVIE ET AL INTERCHANGEABLE ATTACHMENT Aug. 15 1939.

Filed July 12, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS BERNARD DAR' VIE IEV/NG DAEV/E wan/42w:

ATTORNEY Aug. 15, 1939. B. DARVIE ETAL 2,169,461

INTERCHANGEABLE ATTACHMENT Filed July 12, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENHTORS.

. 552M120 DARV/E IRVING mews g 5 EL DAEV/E k 1 U 15' TORNEY Patented Aug. 15, 1939 UNITED STATES INTERCHANGEABLE ATTACHMENT Bernard Darvie, Irving Darvie, and Samuel Darvie, New York, N. Y.

Application July 12, 1938, Serial No. 218,738"

6 Claims.

This invention relates to interchangeable attachments, particularly to those adapted for use with ornamental articles such as dress clips, shoe clips, belt buckles, brooches and the like.

It is primarily within the contemplation of our invention to enable an ornamental article, or a pair of such articles, to be conveniently employed for various purposes by the expedient of interchangeably applying thereto simple fastening elements. Cognizance is taken of other ornamental attachments of this general character, but most of such devices are not only relatively expensive and intricate to handle, but arealso commonly encumbered with certain permanently afiixed fastening elements which not alone.detract from the appearance of the ornament, but also add considerably to the weight thereof. It is hence one of the objectives of our invention to obviate these shortcomings by presenting a relatively simple device wherein all the fastening elements, for whatever purpose they may be employed, are detachable, so that only a single type of fastening element issecured to the ornament at one time. The arrangement is such as to reduce both the weight and bulk of the ornament, and eliminate any unsightly fastening elements that might otherwise be visible, the accomplishment of this purpose constituting another one of the objects of our invention.

It is a common practice to secure fastening elements to an ornament by means of soldering, a method which is known to have certain disadvantages. For example, the employment of heat during the soldering process is apt to. cause certain spring elements to lose their temper, and will frequently damage thev ornament proper; and in the case of a gold-plated ornament, the application of heat for soldering purposes will often remove a portion of gold. There is also the danger that the solder will flow around and upon the spring of the catch or pin element, thereby rendering such spring ineffective. It is hence another of our objectives to enable the fastening elements to be attached to the ornament without the necessity of any soldering operation whatsoever. And in this aspect of our invention, another object is to enable broken or defective fastening elements to be readily replaced without any heat or soldering processes.

Other objects, features and advantages Will appear from the drawings and the description hereinafter given.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 represents a disassembledperspective view of theelements of a. belt buckle containing our invention, the ,view showing the rear portions of the main ornament buckle members, and illustrating one of the adjustable belt bars and the hook element with fragments thereof removed.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a dress clip attachment containing the male fastening element constituting part of our invention, a portion of the structure being removed for clarity.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of certain of the fastening elements of our invention employed in a pin brooch attachment.

Figure 4 is a perspective of one of the fastening elements of our invention as applied to a shoe clip.

Figure 5 is a rear plan View showing the elements of Figure 1 assembled to form a belt buckle unit.

Figure 6 is a rear planview of a pair of the main ornament members of Figures 1 and 5 showing on each the dress clip attachment of Figure 2, thereby illustrating a pair of dress clips.

Figure 7 is a rear plan view of the two main. ornamental members of Figures 1 and 5 assembled together with the attachment ofFigure 3 to form a brooch, and

Figure 8 is a rear plan view of a pair of shoe clips embodying the main ornament members of Figures 1 and 5 in combination with shoe clips of the type illustrated in Figure 4.

In the drawings, and particularly Figure 1 thereof, the main ornament members Ill and II contain thereon sockets l2 and I3 respectively, each of these being adapted to receive any one of several various fastening elements, as will more clearly appear from the description hereinafter given. The said members I 0 and II are preferably of identical structure, so that only a single form of member need be fabricated for the various purposes for which pairs of such members may be employed, in accordance with the teachings of this invention, and the said sockets I2 and I3 are also of similar construction, being adapted to receive male fastening attachments, such as those on the hook and eye elements l4 and I5, respectively.

The socket l2 contains on one side thereof a long channel or guide "5 and on the other side a relatively short channel or guide l! extending only a portion of the way along the length of the socket. A wall of the short channel,--the wall I8 in the drawings illustrated,tapers down at one end l9 thereof to the base 9 of the socket, thereby forming an inclined Wall leading up to a notch 20. The rear of the socket contains an upwardly extending wall 2| forming a stop. The

' socketor guides 22 and 23,

portion 25, a'notch 26, a stop 2la It should also be noted that the channels 11 and 23 begin at points remote from the notches 20 and26 respectively, for reasons which will hereinafter appear.

The male fastening elements l4 and I5 contain the slides 21 and 28 respectively, preferably made of spring material, the lateral sides of said slides containing arms or spring tongues 29 and 30 respectively, the said tongues containing laterally extending extensions 3| and 32 respectively, preferably at a level slightly higher than that of the upper surfaces of slides 21 and 28. In Figures 1 and 5, the hook portion 33 is adapted to engage the eye portion 34 in conventional manner so as to enable elements [4 when operatively positioned in place.

In assembling the elements 14 and 15 upon the main ornaments I and H, the operations are identical, and hence only the method of assem bling element I4 will be described. The rear edge 35 of this element (see Figure 1). is inserted within the channel groove 360i the guide l6, and slidably moved rearwardly into socket l2 upon the base 9'thereof, the lateral edges of the slide 21 slidably engaging the vertical walls of the guides. During the said sliding movement, the extension 3|, upon engaging the inclined wall l9, will be yieldably moved upwardly, inasmuch as the tongue 29, which carries said extension is of spring material. Upon a continued rearward movement of the slide, the extension 3lwill eventually snap into the notch 20 to hold the entire fastening element 14 in place within the socket, In this position, the slide 21 is held against upward movement by the channels or guides l6 and I1, against forward movement by the forward wall of notch 20, and against rearward movement by the rear wall of notch 20 and the stop 21.

When the fastening element I is slidably positioned into place, precisely inthe manner of element l4, the hook and eye elements of the belt will be attached to the complementary buckle members l0 and H for cooperative attachment, as is illustrated in Figure 5. It will also be noted that in' their assembled relation the ornament members and H have-their respective socket members oppositely positioned, anarrangement which obviously results from the identical con- 7 struction of said members.

The belt bars 31 and 38 are of telescopic 'arrangement, the hollow elements 39 and 40 thereof being shown to'contain holes 4| and 42, respectively, with which the terminal portion of the spring tongue 44 (Figure 1) is in operative engagement to adjustably and frictionally hold the said telescopic elements in place. The said bars contain, the male fastening slide elements 45 and respectively, as well as the spring tongues 41,

,48 and extensions 49 and 49a respectively, similar in structure to the analogous elements of the hook and eye members I4 and I5 previousl'y'described, In the particular embodiment shown in Figure 1, the said belt bars also contain, oppositely disposed with respect to said slide elements 45 and 46, the base-members 50*and 5| respectively. It is however, also within the contemplation of this invention to employ, if desired, slide elements similar to 45 and 46 instead of the said base members. It will be noted that the slides 45, 46 and bases 50 and 5i are of greater width responding parts partly cut out so as I and-'15 to 1 serve as cooperative elements of a belt buckle j male than the vertical walls 66, 61, 68 and 69 of the belt bars, leaving the lateral margins of the slides and bases free and unobstructed for sliding purposes as will more clearly hereinafter appear.

The main ornament members It) and il each contains a second set of sockets adapted to re-' ceive the slides 45 and 46 and the bases 59 and 5i. The sockets 52 and 53 are similar in general construction to the sockets I2 and I3, containing the channels 54 and 55, and 5B and 57 respectively, as well as the notch 58, inclined wall 59, and cor-- BI] and 6| respectively, The bases 62 and 63 of these portions are however to reduce the visible portion of the sockets, 52 and 53 which might otherwise be'seen'through the apertures 64 and 65. Inasmuch as the assembly of the belt bars 31 and 38 are identical, only the assembly operation of the bar 31 will be described. The unobstructed lateral edges 10 of the slide 45 are inserted within the grooves of the channels 54 and 55, and the edge ll of base 50 is simultaneously inserted within the grooves of the channels 12 and 13 of socket 56a. The bar is then moved in the direction of the arrows (see Figure 1) until the extension 49 is locked within the notch 48 in the manner aforesaid. Hence when both members 31 and 38 are assembled in place in this manner, they will constitute part of the belt buckle shown in Figure 5 and adapted to operatively receive a loop of the belts therethrough.

. In detaching the said fastening elements from theirassembled positions, the operation as applied only'to member l4 and the socket l2 will bedescribed as all the other fastening elements are similarly detached. The. operation is exceedingly simple,consisting' merely of elevating the extension 3| until it is out of the notch 20.

cientleverage to the spring tongue 29 so that it can be readily moved upwardly during the disassembling operation as-above described, particu- *larly inasmuch as the portion of said tongue is engageable with the guide I! substantially at the region of edge 14. If the edge 14 were closer to the notch 20, obviously the spring tongue would have a shorter lever arm and hence would be more difficult to be moved upwardly. I

InFigure 2 is shown a dress clip containing a pivotally mounted member 16 of conventional form, said clip, however, being operatively attached to a male slide element I1, similar to the slide elements hereinabove described, containing a spring tongue 18 and an extension I9. This member can hence be detachably secured to ornament members such as Ill and H, simply by sliding the member 11 into the socket, in the manner hereinabove described. This will produce an arrangement shown in Figure 6, which illustrates the form of clip member of Figure 2 as applied to .portion 80 of conventional structure mounted upon a slide 8| similar to theslides hereinabove described containing a spring tongue 82 and extension 83. The slide can be readily inserted within the socket of either ornament members ID or II to form a shoe clip similar to the pair shown in Figure 8. It is, of course, obvious that the device of Figure 4 is operatively applied upon the upper portion of a shoe by compressing the clip portion 80 towards the slide 8|.

In Figure 3 is shown another embodiment of my invention, the pin bar 84 being attached by means of the straps 85 and 86 to the slide elements 87 and 88 which are secured together by the connecting bar 89. These slide elements are similar to those hereinabove described, containing spring tongues 90 and BI respectively, and extensions 92 and 93 respectively. This device is attached to two ornament members in the manner shown in Figure 7, both said ornament members being in contiguous juxtaposition with the slides 81 and 88 in operative engagement with the sockets l2 and [3.

It is thus apparent that the ornament members Ill and II can readily be employed for various purposes, as above set forth, by the simple expedient of interchangeably applying the various fastening elements to the sockets on these members in the manner described. The ornament members in themselves carry nothing more than socket members, and hence are not burdened with excessive weight or bulky and unsightly fastening elements permanently afiixed thereto. And inasmuch as the fastening elements are slidably positioned in place, no soldering whatsoever need be done. Should a fastening element become defective or broken, all that need be done is to have a new one obtained without in any way mutilating the ornament member which generally is the most expensive part of the device.

It is of course understood that the various embodiments above described and shown in the drawings are illustrative of our invention and not employed by way of limitation, inasmuch as numerous changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of this invention.

What we claim is:

1. In a replaceable attachment, a female socket member and a male fastening attachment adapted for detachable engagement therewith, said socket member containing a base, lateral guides, an elevated wall extending along a lateral edge of the base in unobstructing relation to the medial portion thereof and containing a notch therein, said fastening attachment containing a slide and a spring tongue at a lateral side thereof and in unobstructing relation to the medial portion thereof, the slide being slidably movable upon said base between said guides, the tongue containing an extension thereon adapted to engage said wall during the operative assembling movement of the slide upon the base, whereby the tongue is raised and yieldably maintained in an elevated position until released therefrom when the extension reaches and enters said notch, the said extension overlapping and extending beyond the adjacent lateral edge of the base and the said wall whereby it could be readily grasped for manual manipulation.

2. In a replaceable attachment, a female socket member and a male fastening attachment adapted for detachable engagement therewith, said socket member containing a base, guiding means, a stop at the rear of the base, and a wall extend- 3 ing perpendicularly from a lateraledge of the base and containing a recessed portion, said fas tening attachment containing a slide and a spring arm at a lateral side thereof, the slide being slidably movable upon said base and operatively engageable with said guiding means and said stop, the spring arm having a portion thereof extending outwardly and adapted to engage said wall during the operative assembling movement of the slide upon the base, whereby the arm is raised and yieldably maintained in an elevated position' 'until released therefrom when the Wallengagirg-portion of said arm reaches and enters said recessed portion, the socket member and attachment being so proportioned that the said wall-engaging portion of the arm is positioned within the said recessed portion when the slide is in engagement with the said stop and in overlapping relation to the adjacent lateral edge of the base.

3. The combination according to claim 2, wherein the said wall has its forward edge tapering down to the base whereby the spring arm will be gradually elevated upon coming into operative engagement therewith.

4. In a replaceable attachment, a female socket member and a male fastening attachment adapted for detachable engagement therewith, said socket member containing a base, two guides of channel-like structure at opposite lateral edges of the base, one of the guides being shorter than the other, an elevated wall extending along the base at the edge thereof at which the shorter of said guides is positioned and substantially in line therewith, said wall containing a notch therein, said fastening attachment containing a solid flat slide entirely in one plane and a spring tongue at a lateral side thereof, the slide being slidably movable upon said base between said guides and said wall, the tongue containing an extension thereon adapted to engage said wall during the operative assembling movement of the slide .upon the base, whereby the tongue is raised and yieldably maintained in an elevated position until released therefrom when the extension reaches and enters said notch, the said extension overlapping and extending beyond the adjacent lateral edge of the base and the said wall whereby it could be readily grasped for manual manipulation.

5. In a replaceable attachment, a female socket member and a male fastening attachment adapted for detachable engagement therewith, said socket member containing a base, two guides at opposite lateral edges of the base, an elevated wall extending along the base at one edge thereof and substantially in line with the guide positioned at that edge, said wall containing a notch therein'remote from the forward portion of said last-mentioned guide, said fastening attachment containing a slide and a spring tongue at a lateral side thereof, the slide being slidably movable upon said base between said guides, the tongue containing a transverse extension thereon overlapping the adjacent lateral edge of the base and adapted to engage said wall during the operative assembling movement of the slide upon the base, whereby the tongue is raised and yieldably maintained in an elevated position until released therefrom when the extension reaches and enters said notch, the tongue being of a suificient length to be in engagement with the said forward portion of the adjacent guide to enable it to be yieldably actuated upon manual manipulation.

6. In an ornamental attachment, a main orna- .ment'member-'containing. on the rearside thereof a female socket member, and a removable. male ing a fasteningvattachment adapted for detachable engagementtherewith, said socket member containbase, guiding means, and a wall extending perpendicularly from a lateral edge of the base and. containing a recessed portion, said fastening attachment containing a solid flat slide entirely in one planeand a spring arm at a lateralside thereof; the slide being slidably movable upon said base and operatively engageablewith said guiding means, the spring arm havinga portion'thereof extendingoutwardly and adapted to engage said wall during the operative assembllngmovemeans associated with the slide.

I BERNARD, DARVIE.

IRVING DARVIE. a SAMUEL DARVIE.. 

